Fun Facts - What 4 Hours of Podcasts Recently Taught Us

This weekend Mrs. Shopaholic and I visited friends out of town and got to catch up on our Podcast listening. The road trip was a little scary for us as we experienced brief white outs from blowing snow on the county roads and we slid a couple of times. I ask the Mayor Neustadt to plow your roads!  We also got see the townsfolk of Arthur go to Timmy's on their Ski-doos.   Sights not normally seen by us a city folk.

So, these are some fun facts that are now entered into my brain and likely pushing out something important that now I can't remember.

• Per Freaknomics podcast they asked the question "What's the "Best" Exercise?"  I can save you 20 minutes of listening and answer it is the exercise you willingly do.  Overall the podcast was well done and they utilized a computerized ladies voice asking questions to Stephen Dubner in homage to the movie 'Her.'  The key take away was that 80% of Americans don't meet the basic exercise requirements as set out by American College of Sports Medicine of exercising 30 minutes a day most days of the week.  Economists have measured that walking 30 minutes a day five days a week adds year and a half to your life expectancy.  2 and a half years for exercising at a greater intensity such as jogging or sports.  Per studies done at the University of Chicago and other institutions it has been shown that interval training can lead to greater endurance/strength gains and caloric burn.
• Per another Freakanomics podcast entitled "The Most Dangerous Machine" and it was on death rate of the American driver.  This was a poor choice for in car listening, but it brought up some of the key technical innovations in driving safety.  Also, Ohio City in the State of Ohio was the site of the first recorded car crash in 1891.

  

  Sign Commemorating the First Car Crash

  Apparently approximately 33,000 Americans die a year in vehicle accidents and that you are 3 times more likely to die in rural area then in the city.  I was surprised by the latter, but per the podcast most accidental deaths occur by drivers veering off the road into ditches, trees, pole, etc.  Not by hitting other cars.  Most accidents are caused by driver carelessness or distraction.  So, in reality you are your own worst enemy and it is not the other driver on the road.  A key innovation in driver safety came when a nurse in the early 1900's was sick of treating accident victims and went out and painted the first divided road.  In the early 1950's the seat belt was first introduced in cars, but it took until the 1980's for the majority of people to use them.  Apparently only approximately 91% of Americans use a seat belt or about 1 in 10 do not.  When was the last time you were in a car with someone who didn't put one on?   Who is that 1 in 10?
• Per Stuff the Mom Never Told You podcast entitled "What's the Difference Between Gender and Sex" is that 1 in 2,000 babies are born with a condition that makes the child's gender indeterminate.  The child can be born with severely malformed sex organs or born with a combination of both male and female sexual organs.  These individuals are often labeled as 'transexuals' and Germany (Oct 2013) has been the latest country to recognize legally a third 'other' gender.  Australia and Nepal have previously enshrined in law a third gender.  I know from another podcast 

I hope you enjoyed these 'Fun Facts.  I highly recommend 'Freaknomics Radio' and Mrs. Shopaholic also routinely enjoys 'Stuff Mom Never Told You.'  The latter can be hit or miss for me depending on the topic.